The idea of making it just 10 laps was obviously to create a frantic, all-out, sprint to the $1 million prize. But Carl Edwards proved last year that if a driver can get a good start, he can build enough of a lead that can't be overcome in 10 laps.

After Johnson won the race down pit road on Saturday night, he, too, got a good restart and checked out from the rest of the field. Nobody had a chance to catch him in such a short sprint, but Keselowski said Johnson was so good, he wouldn't have been able to catch him in 100 laps.

Kenseth, who restarted second and finished third, thought 10 laps gave Johnson a decided advantage.

"You got somebody as fast as him out front, there was no way I was going to have a shot in 10 laps," Kenseth said. "Ten laps is kind of short, but yet the fastest car was out front. It was hard to beat that."

Regardless of the format, the consensus among drivers seemed to be that the best car won the race. And for Johnson, it put him alongside the late Dale Earnhardt and teammate Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to win three All-Star races.

Johnson's win came a week after he gave team owner Rick Hendrick his 200th Cup victory with a win at Darlington. With five Sprint Cup championships on his resume, this latest All-Star win was yet another feat in Johnson's bid to rewrite the record books.

"I've got a lot of years left ahead of myself," he said. "I want to leave my mark in this sport when I hang up my helmet. We're doing a great job of that."